January 22, 2001 - Prabhu's Family Unit
January 22, 2001 - Prabhu's Family Unit |
Here is Prabhu with Mari and Mumtaz |
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Prabhu |
It is early morning and everyone is just getting up. About 15 people sleep outside of the Jaiz complex which is were Vela gets her mail. In a few hours, all the shops will open (depending on the day of the fortnight) so all their stuff must be removed from the sidewalks. |
Prabhu's Grandmother With both parents dead, Prabhu and his grandmother seem to be the only two surviving members of their family. His grandmother is extremely old and does not earn much. This is why Prabhu was forced to quit school and go to work at the age of 8. Prabhu claims to be 12 now but this seems to be an exaggeration. He is probably 10. His wage are $0.25 US per day. By December 2000, his grandmother says he is now in school because of the money I send each month. He is very bright so I hope this is true... however, his grandmother will tell me anything to get money. |
One of the neighbors washing. One of the first things that kids do when they get up in the morning is to wash their face and brush their teeth. Brushing their teeth is an extreme religious ritual by Colgate which they always seem to do before they eat, not after. Girls also powder their faces with talcum powder and put the Hindu marking on their forehead with makeup.. or they use modern plastic stick-ons which are often very fancy. |
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| I gave Vela a camera so Prabhu and Vela took pictures of each other. In the pose on the right, Prabhu has a drawn on moustache. |
Computer Access One at a time, I took Vela, Mumtaz and Prabhu a local computer rental shop. This shop directly opposite the Maharaja hotel (the restaurant designed for foreigners in Triplicane near Broadlands Lodge). I first tried teaching them Adobe Photoshop but later switched to Windows Paint. While Vela just likes to play, Mumtaz likes to take a tool and slowly fill the entire screen with a single color. She is not finished until the screen is one solid color. Prabhu was the only kid who seemed to have a natural talent for computers. This is a why it is a shame that he had not attend school for many years. |
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While his grandmother looks out for Prabhu, she also demands that he bring home lots of money. Also, his grandmother has not taught him right from wrong so he has a habit of taking things which are not his. |
Prabhu's Grandmother uses a brush broom every morning to sweep the sidewalk. Actually, everyone has this type of broom and everyone sweeps the sidewalks around where they have slept. There is always a lot of trash to sweep up since even the kids are taught at an early age to throw everything they do not want down on the floor. This littering drives me nuts. But for Indians this seems to be an eager ritual. They don't just throw wrappers and bottle tops away. Instead they deliberately throw things straight at the ground with vigor. Even in airplanes, Indian businessmen from Tamil Nadu will throw their trash down in the isles expecting the flight attendants to get out brooms to sweep it up... rather than just putting the trash on their tray for the flight attendant to pick up. |
Here is Prabhu asleep on the bed at the lodge in Mahbalipuram were we stayed when I first arrived in Madras. The watch is a $9 watch from K-Mart and the clothes are purchased on a street near where I get a direct satellite link access to the Internet. Because the kids sleep on the streets, they never can sleep during the day as he is doing here on a clean bed. Little pleasures! |
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